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Sunday, April 24, 2016

VERSE by VERSE - 1 Corinthians 13:4

VERSE by VERSE - 1 Corinthians 13:4

We are studying the entire 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians VERSE by VERSE. 1 Corinthians 13 is all about love and many people have written books on this one chapter alone. I won't be writing a book but we will be studying one verse at a time.

VERSE 4 - there is so much in this one little verse. It is interesting to note that this verse begins with 2 points about what love is and ends with 3 points about what love is not - the positive first and then the negative. There are 5 points or descriptions - let's study each one and I will begin each point with the definition of each word (all definitions are taken from online dictionary):

1.Patient - able to accept or tolerate delays, problems or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.Patience is probably one of the most lacking characteristics in our fast paced society and I have to admit something that I struggle with often. Think about times in your life when somebody had absolutely no patience with you - I'm sure that something hurtful was said or done to you because of a lack of loving patience. Difficulties in life just naturally cause anxiety and annoyance - however, when true Godly love is present these anxieties and hurtful situations disappear.

2. Kind - having or showing a friendly, generous or considerate nature.Here again, I'm sure that we can all think about some happening from our past where we were hurt by inconsiderate or stingy people. Or, maybe we were that person causing the pain in somebody else's life. True Godly love can NEVER be void of kindness.

3. Envy - a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities or luck.You know what envy does? Envy takes our focus away from God and puts it onto ourselves - the "poor me" factor. Not only does envy make us feel sorry for ourselves but it also makes us dislike those around us who have more than we have. There is no love in envy.

4. Boast - talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions or abilities.I can't stand gossip and in my opinion the only thing worse than gossip is hearing somebody go on and on about themselves. Here again, boasting takes the focus off of God, it also takes the focus off of caring for others and puts the focus totally onto ourselves. There is no love in boasting.5. Proud - having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance.In my opinion the difference between boasting & pride is that one is shown by talk (boasting) and the other is shown by action (pride). Being proud shows up in how we act. By being proud it's almost as if we are placing ourselves on the same level as God! We are NOTHING without God and therefore love can NEVER be proud.

Let's keep our focus on God and show God's love by being patient & kind making sure that we are never envious, boastful or proud.